Man, how horrible is the NFC East this year? The Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles are ‘battling’ for the divisional crown yet both teams enter play on Sunday with a losing record both at 6-7. Dallas has lost 3 straight, 4 of their last 5 and 7 of 10. The Eagles are coming off a win but had lost three straight before that and have lost 5 of their last 8. With Dallas facing a tough challenge this week hosting the Los Angeles Rams this is a perfect chance for Philadelphia to reclaim the divisional lead as they head to Washington to play the 3-10 Redskins.
The Redskins are off a very competitive loss at Green Bay where they dropped the game SU by a 20-15 margin but covered easily as +14 road favorites. Washington has now covered 3 straight and 5 of their last 7 and have won 2 of their last 3 SU. That’s the good news from an ATS standpoint. They’ve been a miserable play on their home field over the past year plus going 1-9 SU/3-7 ATS at home. Dwayne Haskins might be the quarterback of the future but he’s going to have to survive the present. That’s not a ‘given’ when a rookie quarterback has been sacked 22 times in his first five NFL starts.
At least Washington has the excuse of completely lacking in the talent department. Philadelphia has plenty of talent but they’ve struggled despite it. Their ATS record is even worse than their 6-7 SU mark at 4-9 against the spread. They’re 2-5 ATS as a favorite this year and 1-4 ATS as a favorite of -3.5 to -9.5 points. That’s been a horrible situation for them during the past several years and they enter on a 7-13 ATS run in that spot over the past three seasons. They’ve been a decent play on the road during recent years but this year they’re 2-4 ATS away from home. They’ve been horrible against NFC foes going 2-7 ATS this year and even worse against divisional rivals going 0-3 ATS despite a 2-1 SU record.
As if Philadelphia needed anything else working against them in this matchup they’re in a tough scheduling situation off a short week following a Monday Night game against the Giants and with a huge divisional game at home against Dallas on deck. Eagles have failed to cover 4 straight and 6 of their last 8. Washington is no treasure either but at this juncture the Eagles shouldn’t be laying points on the road against anyone, even the lowly Redskins.
